


Lightning Strike

by Crowsister



Series: Blüdhaven Blues [2]
Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Tabletop Gaming, F/M, Self-Indulgent, possible ooc
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-26
Updated: 2018-03-26
Packaged: 2019-04-08 08:54:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14101836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crowsister/pseuds/Crowsister
Summary: Timelines are tricky things. Here are some scenes that may or may not happen.





	Lightning Strike

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SuperKamiGodEspurrOfMan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuperKamiGodEspurrOfMan/gifts).



> Context before we begin: this takes place in the tabletop game that I'm currently playing in titled Blüdhaven Blues. Billy Batson will be born in about 15 years and my character, Raimonda Soliani, is the Champion of Magic in the meantime. Her pantheon is made up of New Gods because my sister Lili (GM for the game, otherwise known as SuperKamiGodEspurrofMan) loves her some New Gods. The gods for Champions of Magic in this setting tend to leave a personality imprint on the powers they bestow to the Champion in question, leaving echoes of themselves to sort of guide the champion in question (hence why Rai hears voices in her head). Rai, for some reason or another, doesn't have all of her powers unlocked. At the time of writing this, she only has bits of all of them and mostly "The Freedom of Scott Free" unlocked (hence why Scott's voice is so much more prominent in here than Highfather's -- I know Scott better both from reading comics with him and from experiencing his and Rai's banter in game).
> 
> These are scenes that haven't happened in game, currently as of writing and posting this note, but they're scenes that keep haunting me with what if's and other hypotheticals. A lot of this fic was inspired by "Lightning Strike" by Snow Patrol. There may be some cross-over in this fic with another fic I've got in the works: Guardian, a slowburn redemption fic for Black Adam.
> 
> For now, have this first scene, which is a hypothetical meeting between Raimonda (Captain Thunder) and Black Adam. It's not their first -- I'd say it's somewhere between third and fifth.

_Every timeline is different. It’s the typical spiel given in science fiction: one choice you remember making leads to a completely different timeline. Sometimes, it’s so different that it’s accurate to say that it’s an entirely different world._

_Say you go out one night and it storms. There’s a timeline for every option you take, but you can’t live in them all so you only get to experience it_ **_one_ ** _way._

_You go out and you see someone struggling in the storm. There’s a timeline for you going on your own way to wherever you’re going, but there’s one where you help them by letting them take shelter in your umbrella._

_Then the timeline gets really messy when you start to ask yourself, “What if this storm ends? What if I never see this person like this ever again? What happens then?”_

_You never were any good at letting things go, Rai. You’re gonna cling to this guy like static electricity and that? That’s gonna kill you. I almost killed you, Rai, and this guy? He’s ten times worse._

* * *

####  **Blüdhaven, NJ** **  
****March 3rd, 1986**

Her head pounded, phantom pain and real pain echoing in her body. Had she not been transformed, she would have died at the first punch he threw. Voices were faint in the back of her mind: Scott yelling at her to get up and _run_ , the Highfather trying to get Scott to shut up so she could think. She pushed herself out of the crater of a broken building that she had just been thrown into, trying to get to her feet but failing. She fell to her hands and knees, forcing herself to not blackout and to focus on staying _awake_.

She coughed up blood, her ribs hurting like a bitch. “I’m just-”

“You are just what? Going to beg for your life? Wish you had never been born?”

Captain Thunder felt blood trickle down the corner of her lip, down her chin. She looked up at her predecessor, watching him land gently against the street and walk towards her with all the grace of a king. She brought her brown eyes to meet his black ones, shakily moving to sit back on her ankles as she watched him approach.

She waited, panting as he was taking his damn time to get within ten feet of her. Let it never be unsaid that the great and mighty Black Adam was one who was fond of showboating. Both of her patrons gave an outcry in her mind and she realized she hadn’t filtered her thoughts from them.

 _“Both of you, quiet,”_ she told them, her mental voice sounding just as tired as she felt.

 _“I’m sorry, it’s_ ** _hard_** _to be quiet when you just called the guy who did all of this to us- to_ ** _you_** cute _!”_ Scott Free, always knowing exactly what she needed to hear at the wrong time.

 _“Scott, wait,”_ the Highfather replied – always the voice of reason. _“Chosen, do you have a plan?”_

 _“Yeah,”_ she answered. _“Something of one. If it works, you won’t get to learn what death feels like.”_

 _“Great!”_ Scott managed to make a hand clap sound, despite the fact that he had no hands since he was just a voice in her head. _“So, there’s handholds there, there, and-”_

 _“Scott,”_ she replied, _“while this is a plan that is very much based off of shit you’ve taught me, it’s not that kind of plan. I run and he’ll just chase me down, it’ll be a waste of energy.”_ Captain Thunder gritted her teeth, popping her shoulder back into place with neat precision. _“Trust me, okay?”_

 _“...if you die, you’re no longer my favorite champion,”_ Scott replied, putting as much pout into his voice as he could. _“If we live, I want to have three new flavors of ice cream. No fooling me with French vanilla again._ **_AND_ ** _I want the others to pay for it for missing this with their day trip in Gotham.”_

 _“I promise,”_ she chuckled, trying to keep a smile off of her face. Adam was getting closer and she didn’t want to spring her trap on him just yet. Captain Thunder simply waited for him to get closer, not wanting anything to be lost in the metaphorical mail.

Black Adam hoisted her by the pauldron of her suit, holding her up. “I asked you a question, Captain Thunder. I expect it **answered**.”

She just cracked a small smile, letting herself tear up. “I’m just glad that you exist.”

He dropped her and she landed on her side with a pained grunt. He stared at her as Captain Thunder slowly sat up.

“I’ve been so alone in all of this.” She coughed, closing her eyes and pushing the pain back. “Half the time I think I’m crazy. Voices in my head? A distinctly sharp dream that I can control myself in? I always asked myself about the possibility of me making up the Wizard and my patrons, just to make myself feel better. I’m a lonely bitch, you know? I don’t have any friends, but I’ve had enemies ever since I went out onto the streets and tried to use all this to make someone’s day a little brighter. They’re all cloak and dagger, guns, guns, guns _everywhere_.”

She laughed in a bittersweet manner, slowly opening her eyes again and looking up at him. “But **you** ? You’re _refreshing_. You’ll declare that you’re here to kill me and that’s that. No holding me hostage to try to make me or someone else an attack dog. No attempts to blackmail me to do things for you. No covert operations to try to get under my skin. Just straight up murder. It’s refreshing, Adam, honestly.”

Captain Thunder slowly laid down, shakily using a chunk of upturned asphalt as a pillow and keeping her eyes on his stony expression the whole time. “The best part is that if you kill me now – why, I’d die happy. Because you _existing_ ? You existing proves that I’m not crazy. Because _you_ know what this is all like! You’ve got it more on lock than I do! You’ve probably got all six gods in your head, talking to you, all while I’m talking right now! You probably remember the dream expeditions to the Rock and talking to the Wizard. You _know_ what it’s all like and the knowledge that one person, right here, is alive and knows _exactly_ what I’ve been going through these last few months? I can die happy with that knowledge. My life’s a shitshow, I don’t have anything to lose, but at least I can get a small amount of satisfaction in knowing that I am not crazy.”

She looked straight in front of her, eyes trailing the wrecked city in front of her. “I pray that this’ll make you happy, killing me here and now. I hope this puts you on the path that you want and I sincerely hope that you’ll have a good life after this, with everything you want.” Raimonda closed her eyes, ignoring Scott’s shouting. “Here’s your shot, big guy. Take it.”

There was a tense silence. She took shaky breaths, inhaling and exhaling with her severely broken ribs. She felt a drop or two of something wet hit her exposed skin and heard drops of water hit the asphalt she lied on. Thunder cracked above her and she opened her eyes. He was gone.

 _“Raimonda, what the fuck?”_ Scott wheezed. _“That? That was nowhere in my playbook! What the hell were you thinking?”_

 _“I made myself too easy of a target,”_ she replied, slowly getting up. _“I took all the satisfaction of the kill right out from him. Maybe made him realize that who he’s mad at isn’t me, but the Wizard. Not likely he’s come to that conclusion yet, since he’s stubborn, but a girl can dream.”_ She hobbled into an alleyway, leaning against the side of it and tried not to focus on the blood smearing against the bricks. _“Thank God it’s raining.”_

 _“Chosen, focus,”_ the Highfather chastised her and God, the more he talked the more he reminded her of her father. _“You said you were inspired by Scott. How?”_

 _“Barda was a Fury tasked with killing him,”_ Raimonda answered, slowly rolling her shoulders back to feel all the pain and to memorize what Black Adam was capable of. Plant a flag, make a reminder for herself that he was not a force to be taken lightly. _“She had never failed before then. This is my translation of Scott’s storytelling, so he’s allowed to be fussy if he finds it wrong, but basically he was too cute and helpless in the right way.”_

_“I resent everything about that translation, it is slander, I am just too handsome to die.”_

_“That’s what I learned from it, take it or leave it. I’ve worked for people like Adam my whole life. Taking Scott’s accidental lesson and that knowledge, I made a gamble.”_ She smiled, looking up at the sky as thunder rolled up above. _“And I was right. Maybe, just maybe, long term Adam can be my Barda if he makes those choices. But for right now, I’m going to call today a win. A win we’re celebrating with orange sherbert, coffee toffee crunch bar, and New York super fudge chunk, so I’m gonna transform now. Next time I transform, Scott, we’ll do the ice cream party.”_

 _“You better,”_ he answered, _“or I will turn off your hands when you need to grab something.”_

 _“Love you too, Scott,”_ she chuckled, hugging herself. _“I’m sorry I worried you.”_

He grumbled and she took another look around the alleyway. She muttered under her breath, “Shazam.”

Raimonda Soliani walked home with a small smile on her face, sometimes taking the time to do a little twirl in the rain.


End file.
